Sunday, September 11, 2016

In a match played
in very windy but dry conditions, the Renfrewshire Golf Union boys' team retained
the West League title by defeating Glasgow Golf Union 6.5-1.5 at
Ranfurly Castle

The team went
through the season, again unbeaten with three wins and two draws.

The wind caused a
lot of problems for the boys at Ranfurly Castle , most finding it difficult to control the ball, particularly at the first hole where over 60% of them either found
the right rough or went out of bounds.

This was
something to be repeated throughout the course with numerous lost or out of
bounds balls

However, the
Renfrewshire boys appeared to be coping better than their opponents, but at the
turn the match was very much in the balance with three of the Under-16 players
being well down and the Under-18s being very even.

The holes after
the turn proved crucial, as first Roddy McAulay turned a three-hole deficit after nine into a two-hole lead by 15, eventually winning by 3 and 1.

Greg McCaffer, in
his first outing for Renfrewshire, was four down after 10 but said “he was now coming
onto his game”, and proved his point by securing a square match.

Cameron Johnstone
was not at his best and poor putting saw him lose by 3 and 2.

Aidan O’Hagan, the
youngest player in the Renfrewshire team, but a boy to watch out for in the future, played
the anchor role for the Under-16s in the absence of Tom Mackenzie and was never
in trouble, running out a 7 and 6 winner.

Angus Frood, on
his home course where he is junior champion, was always in command against Jack
Crawford, who admitted that his golf was a bit out of sorts. Frood won by 6 and 4.

Jamie Sinnamon,
he of few words, but a great ball striker, was never down, but threw away some
good leads before setting the nerves of the management by winning by two holes.

Jack Currie, a
bit of an enigma at times, played the worst shot of the day off the first tee. While his opponent was clearly in trouble out right, Jack hit his tee shot further
right into a garden neighbouring the course. Neither found his ball, and the
hole was halved in 7! This was a bit of an up and down game and while Jack
never lost the lead, mistakes kept the game close. Currie eventually ran out winner
by 3 and 1.

In the top match
Ibrahim Hussain, looking for his first win for Renfrewshire, came up trumps and put
in a great performance. Never behind, he built a comfortable early lead which
he never gave up and ran out a comfortable winner by 6 and 4.

The Renfrewshire
Golf Union are delighted to have retained the league trophy despite the fact
that boys who played earlier in the season were no longer available as the have
gone to University in both Scotland and the USA, or in the case of one other, is now living in Holland.

This does show
the strength in depth of the RGU Boys, and is a great reflection on the
coaching programme driven by David Orr at Eastwood Golf Club and Mark Loftus at
Mearns Castle and the support of the clubs with
in the RGU who nominate their players into the coaching
programme. We look for their continued support to promote Junior Golf in
Renfrewshire